Timeline

1962

Stefan Sagmeister was born on August 6, 1962, in Bregenz, Australia.

1977

Sagmeister got his first design job when he was 15. He was writing for the Austrian youth magazine, Alphorn, and discovered his love for designing graphic layouts.

He continued to pursue his passion for graphic design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, which led him to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to study at Pratt Institute in New York.

1991

In 1991, Sagmeister moved to Hong Kong to work for Leo Burnet's Hong Kong Design Group. However, his increasingly out of the ordinary and controversial designs were not well accepted and lead him to return to New York, where he worked at M&Co studio until it closed and relocated.

“Who’s the asshole who designed this poster?”

1993

In 1993, he founded Sagmeister Inc. to pursue his dreams independently. Sagmeister built his name and corporation around designing unique covers for music albums, eventually winning three Grammy's and the National Design Award. Some of his notable clients and collaborators were Lou Reed and David Byrne, and later on, Rolling Stones, HBO, Time Warner, and more.

2012

Sagmeister & Walsh

In 2012, 19 years after founding Sagmeister Inc, Sagmeister announced an evolutionary partnership with graphic designer Jessica Walsh and changed the company name to Sagmeister & Walsh. The pair made their debut at their first duo exhibition “The Happy Show”, a creative data visualization about community and happiness. Later they also presented “Beauty”, an exhibition and book investigating why people are attracted to beauty.

2019

Sagmeister and Walsh announce the end of their partnership.

Sagmeister decided that he would step away from commercial work and focus on personal projects and exhibitions. Walsh now handles all commercial projects under her own company, &Walsh.